Passing of an Acton Icon - Anna Madeline (Brady) Mayer

A wake will be held this afternoon and evening at the for one of the most kindest, selfless women the town of Acton has ever known.

Anna Madeline (Brady) Mayer, born January 21, 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died Sunday evening at Emerson Hospital in Concord, surrounded by her close-knit family. Her wake will be held today from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the 470 Massachusetts Ave. funeral home.

She moved to Huckleberry Lane in 1965 with her husband, the late Joseph C. Mayer, and four of her five sons, John, Chuck, Kenny and Brady. It was there Mrs. Mayer and her husband built one of the most beloved residences in town and for 20 years the place where most kids wanted to be. Nary an afternoon would pass - winter, spring, summer or fall - when Mrs. Mayer wasn't cast as an impromptu referee, of sorts, for anything from full tackle football games in the infamous Mayer backyard, to all-weekend Wiffle Ball marathons to eight-hour basketball games into the wee hours of the night. If there was a sport to be played, it was played in and around the roomy Mayer manse, and Mrs. Mayer invariably would call "time out" to bring out a giant platter of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade for all of her "boys."

Her youngest son, Brian, a longtime assistant football coach for the Acton-Boxborough Colonials, was born the year after (1966) the Mayers situated on Huckleberry Lane.

If the walls in Mrs. Mayer's former home could shed blood, they would bleed Colonial Blue & Gold, but more importantly, her welcome, open arms made it the great escape, with its vast vintage Lionel model train village in the basement, to the miniature full-court basketball court outside replete with home and visitors' benches and spotlights. For any and every local boy, the first place you wanted to go afterschool was to Mrs. Mayer's house where a warm snack or early homemade supper would be waiting as if she had been expecting you all along. Scraped knees, bruised egos, boyish fisticuffs... Mrs. Mayer had solutions for all. She would never tolerate foul language from any boy and a scornful look askance from the Mayer matriarch was always well-deserved and often meant a longterm "vacation" from being allowed to return. The small wooden sign in her family TV room stated "He who hoots with the owls by night, cannot fly with the Eagles by day" was her credo and it was advice well-heeded by any adolescent who aspired to don the Blue & Gold.

If you were fortunate enough to get a rare, summertime Friday night ride in Mr. & Mrs. Mayer's unforgettable 1971, plaid-topped, white Camaro, then you knew you were headed to one place and one place only, the former Willow Pond Kitchen in Concord, where many an Acton boy received his introduction to a heaping platter of steamers with a T-bone steak on the side. At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, having Mrs. Mayer order you your first plate of Steamers at the "Kitchen" was like taking the Mayer Communion.

No house was cooler. No yard more fun. No kitchen warmer. Not a bed in her home uncomfortable. Her home was your home away from home and she embodied all of the qualities and traits of one's mom and grandmother and trustworthy older sister all rolled into one. If you had the ability to make her laugh or smile, you knew you'd be back for another steaming plate of fried pork chops or just one more sip of her homemade lemonade.

Mrs. Mayer raised a household of bright, athletic, hardworking humble men and engendered in them a deep sense of community from the moment they stepped foot into town. If you had played your cards right, and earned a heartfelt hug from her, which most boys did, then you were blessed with her unspoken approval and constant encouragement to be the best possible person you could aspire to become.

I know these things because I was one of those fortunate boys who could not wait for school to end just to dig into a plate full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, seated along her turquoise blue kitchen counter, then just as quickly be shooed outdoors into a brisk October afternoon to play football. I know these things because more than once I tested her patience and came within a breath of acquiring one of those Mrs. Mayer "looks" or perhaps even an undesirable "vacation."  

I know these things because had I never had my own mom, I believe I wished somewhere deep in my own boyish heart that a boy could have two. I know these things because I lived through them and I cherish every single memory of her as much as I would those spent with my own mom and grandmother. To me she was a combination of both and the epitome of all good qualities so few of us ever get to experience or know.

I have rarely shed a tear for those who have passed away in my life, perhaps, mainly, because I have grown to expect its inevitability, but for the first time, in a long, long time, upon hearing the news of Mrs. Mayer's passing this Memorial Day Weekend, I could not help but tear up as a flood of memories came pouring into my mind's eye all at once. My heart instantaneously grew heavy with sorrow.

But no sorrow could replace the memory of her soft hand upon one cheek and a gentle kiss upon the other and if I have ever known a greater, more giving and soulful person in my short life, then I doubt it.

A funeral Mass will be held Sat. June 2nd at 10:00am at , 89 Arlington Street, Acton, MA with burial following in Woodlawn Cemetery, Acton Center. Visiting hours are Friday, June 1st from 4:00-8:00 pm at the Acton Funeral Home, 470 Massachusetts Ave (Rte 111) Acton. Expressions of sympathy in memory of Anna Mayer may be made to one's choice: STOW COUNCIL ON AGING, 380 Great Road, Stow, MA 01775 or THE COLONIAL CLUB, P.O. Box 574, Acton, MA 01720.

*This obituary was sent to Acton Patch by Sean Walsh.